[game_preservation] Wikipedia thoughts?

[Jim Leonard]

Andrew Armstrong wrote:

> It happens for console games too now sadly, sigh) 


Yes, requiring the PS3/Xbox360/Wii to be connected to the 'net was the 
end of an era.  The only true "console"-ness left is the Nintendo DS 
(already the PSP requires updates).


> Fair enough on staying neutral, I just differ on the opinion of what you 

> consider opinion or fact I think, haha. ;)


Then you can appreciate why we are as conservative as possible :-)


> PS: Yes, programming is an art (and part of the collective whole of 

> making a game), and no, buggy games are not always the fault of 

> programming anyway, hehehe :)


I have an entire bookcase of my software collection dedicated to games 
that wrung every last drop of performance out of a machine notoriously 
difficult to program games for (the original IBM PC with CGA).  Games 
like Starglider, Turbo Champions, Elite, Interphase, Flight Simulator, 
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator (and CYAFTrainer, after the 
original name got them sued :-), ICON: Quest for the Ring, and others 
are truly works of programming art for that platform.

[soapbox]A lot of people think the original PC, with it's 5MHz 16-bit 
processor, would be easy to write fast software for; in reality, it took 
4x as long as a C64 to access memory and 6x as long to perform most 
simple calculations.  Add to that an odd graphics memory structure and 
no graphics hardware assistance at all, and you have a nightmare to 
program for.[/soapbox]

I am probably the only historian here who has a category for "most 
clever/efficient programming" for software history...
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
Or check out some trippy MindCandy at     http://www.mindcandydvd.com/
A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/